Northern Berkshire United Sets Campaign Breakfast

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NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — The Northern Berkshire United Way will holds its annual campaign Celebration Breakfast on Thursday, May 30, at the Williams Inn.

The breakfast, which begins at 7:45, concludes the annual drive to raise funds to aid more than 20 member agencies ranging from Elder Services of Berkshire County to the Girls Scouts of Western Massachusetts.

This year's goal was $550,000. Officials and campaign Chairmen Osmin Alvarez and Robert Abel will present the results of the drive, which they say has been very positive. The campaign is expected to reach its goal for the first time since the economic collapse.

Timothy Jones, president and CEO of Northern Berkshire Healthcare, will be the guest speaker.
 


"We ask the entire community to join us for breakfast and help us celebrate all the hard work and success of the past campaign," said NBUW Chairman Thomas Rumbolt.

The event will also feature the honoring of volunteers and donors to the campaign.

The Northern Berkshire United Way supports 21 member agencies in meeting the needs of the Northern Berkshire community.

Tickets are $15; RSVP to the Northern Berkshire United Way office at 413-663-9062 by May 24.

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Williamstown Planning Board Narrowing in on Subdivision Bylaw Changes

By Stephen DravisiBerkshires Staff
WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — The Planning Board late last month discussed specific features of what it plans to pass as a new subdivision control bylaw this year.
 
The board long has discussed the complex set of regulations as being out of date and cumbersome to both potential developers and the board itself, which has needed to hear requests for waivers of outdated rules for the handful of residential subdivisions that have been proposed in town in recent years.
 
This spring, the town engaged consultants from Northampton's Dodson and Flinker Landscape Architecture and Planning to go through the existing bylaw, compare it to more contemporary regulations in other communities and help craft a revised bylaw.
 
Unlike the zoning bylaw, where amendments require approval of town meeting, the subdivision control bylaw is a creation of the Planning Board, which can make changes on its own after a public hearing process it hopes to complete this year.
 
At a special Planning Board meeting on May 26, Dillon Sussman of Dodson and Flinker and his colleagues walked the board through a dozen different decision points that the board must resolve — either by leaving the bylaw as is or making a change — and offered suggestions based on best practices.
 
All of the issues are technical and ranged from the fundamental, like how the bylaw will define types of subdivisions, to the highly specific, like what turning radii will be required in new streets that are constructed to serve planned developments.
 
One example of a topic that came up in the recent approval of a four-home subdivision off Summer Street is stormwater management.
 
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